Brighton Boulevard to House Future Denver Police Museum

DENVER – Denver Police Museum Development Group has purchased 4700-4712 Brighton Boulevard for $1 million, or $4 million per acre, the highest price-per-acre land sale in the Elyria Swansea neighborhood in more than a decade. The site will be home to a new Denver Police Museum.

Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) announced the sale of the 0.25-acre corner lot, located across the street from the new $1.1 billion National Western Center (NWC), sold by PMC Land, LLC.

Lance Nading, managing member of the Denver Police Museum Development Group and Mike Hess, president of the Denver Police Law Enforcement Museum, purchased the site. Both entities are 100 percent committed in the mission to open the new Denver Police Museum to the people of Denver alongside (or prior to) the grand opening of the new National Western Stock Show Complex re-development.

Managing Director Russell Gruber of NKF’s Denver office handled the sale transaction, providing advisory services to both the seller and buyer. “4700 Brighton Boulevard is located ideally for value creation, situated along the Brighton Boulevard Redevelopment Corridor, right next to the National Stock Show Western Complex redevelopment, with nearby light rail access and a proximate location to River North (RiNo), one of Denver’s most competitive and active redevelopment neighborhoods,” noted Gruber.

Gruber also sold the 0.53-acre plot of land directly across Brighton Boulevard (4701-4727 Brighton Boulevard) in April of this year to the City and County of Denver for $3.3 million per acre.

The City intends to demolish the property for the National Stock Show Western Complex development. “The new National Western Center (the Denver stock show arena and convention center) is expected to draw millions to Denver each year, providing a transformative and world-class hub for the Western way of life,” added Gruber. “The Denver Police Museum Development Group will benefit by a growing synergistic educational and R&D community with NWC’s partners including Colorado State University, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, History Colorado, and a community Advisory Committee.”

Currently containing a warehouse, parking and two residences, the Denver Police Museum Development Group believes 4700-4712 Brighton Boulevard is an ideal location for its new Denver Police Museum. “We were thrilled at the prospect of the 4700 Brighton Boulevard site as it affords an ideal location proximate to the National Western Center, and we believe our story goes together with the story of the developing West,” stated Hess. “The energy created by the redevelopment of the National Western Stock Show arena and the new convention center will ensure active foot traffic and provide opportunities to interact with the community.”

“The purpose of the Denver Police Museum is to build stronger relations with the community,” continued Hess, “With hands-on interactive events and programs designed to engage young people, and to tell the history of the police department. Just as Denver grew from a rustic town to a major metropolitan area, the police department started with a single marshal and transformed to a department with a chief of police. The museum will tell this story – both good and bad – as well as act as a bridge between law enforcement both past and present, between the heroes of the Old West and modern peacemakers, and between the police and the public they serve.”

The timing of the new Denver Police Museum is still a while down the road due to the ongoing expansion of Interstate 70. The group is also gathering artifacts for the museum as well as launching a multi-phase fundraising effort to establish a world-class facility that will serve as a major tourist attraction.

The Denver Police Museum Development group is a non-profit created in 2008 by active and retired police as well as private citizens.